News & Updates

The US solar market has weathered a few storms since the latest inauguration, from the trump tariffs shaking the market to the recent country’s somewhat turbulent policy landscape. However, the second quarter of 2018 witnessed more positive developments with respect to federal policy. In June, IRS issued a Notice, allowing projects to claim a greater ITC rate and ultimately a higher tax credit.

The recent leaps and bounds in artificial intelligence technology and machine learning have ushered a new era driven by automation. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is defined as a branch in computer science emphasising the creation of intelligent machines and computers similar to human beings in terms of behaviour and response capabilities.

Sports, due to their ability to reach enormous number of fans worldwide, have long been platforms for value promotion. One of such values have been the concept of sustainability and energy efficiency that have become the subject of increased focus lately. We've compiled an overview of the 50 biggest solar systems connected to stadiums and sports venues worldwide.

If players like NextEra, Southern Power, NRG, and now Brookfield continue to dominate the ownership landscape, they could keep a large share of the AM and O&M market captive, i.e. performed in-house and inaccessible to service providers.

On 16th February 2017, Solarplaza organized the webinar “Potential Induced Degradation (PID): Mechanisms, Recognition and Mitigation”. Jenya Meydbray, Vice President of strategy and business development at DNV GL, and Adrián Ramos, Senior Business Developer at OMRON joined the webinar as speakers and shared their expertise in mitigating the threat of potential induced degradation. The entire video recording of the webinar and the speakers’ slides can be freely accessed here.

On 24th January 2017, Solarplaza organized the webinar “Facing the Challenges of a Booming Solar Portfolio”. Chris Franz, Vice President of asset management at Cypress Creek, and Edmee Kelsey, CEO of 3megawatt joined the webinar as speakers and shared their expertise in dealing with the challenges of maintaining a growing solar asset portfolio.

In preparation of the fourth edition of Solar Asset Management North America we spoke to Chad Sachs, CEO of RadianGen, a leading asset management service provider and software developer in the North American market, and one of the companies profiling themselves as sponsor of the event.

The U.S. market experienced its busiest year in 2016, largely driven by a spectacular amount of construction in the utility segment. Per GTM Research, when the dust settles and all the numbers are in, the cumulative capacity of utility PV operating in the U.S. will have increased by more than 70% in a single year. But who owns these assets?

We're glad to be able to share with you the GTM Research data-overview of the 25 largest US utility-scale solar PV plant portfolios. We've published the top 5 here, along with some insightful observations by GTM's Colin Smith. The full top 25 is freely available upon completing the short form at the bottom of the article.

Consolidation is a recurring theme in many solar markets as they mature, but how fragmented or concentrated are each of these markets? How does the U.S. compare to Germany, Italy, or the U.K.? The latest edition of GTM Research’s annual report, Megawatt-Scale PV O&M and Asset Management 2016-2021, authored by yours truly, provides answers to this question for utility-scale plants. The chart below represents the share of the top 10 owners, asset managers, and O&M providers in 9 of the largest PV markets, as a percentage of the total installed base of PV plants 1 MWdc and above (at the end of Q3 2016).

More and more PV plants across the world are being installed on water. These so called ‘floating solar systems’ (or ‘floatovoltaics’) are an appropriate solution to situations where roof and/or ground space is limited. But just how big is this niche? Where are these floating plants located and what is their size? Solarplaza delved into these questions and came up with a Top 70 Floating PV Plants, as well as several interesting facts you probably want to know.

Our Solar Asset Management conference series is established as the leading event on the topic across 4 continents. With a track record of 10 events organized, and another 4 lined up for next year, we felt it was time to give the event series a face and feel of its own.

The US solar market has weathered a few storms since the latest inauguration, from the trump tariffs shaking the market to the recent country’s somewhat turbulent policy landscape. However, the second quarter of 2018 witnessed more positive developments with respect to federal policy. In June, IRS issued a Notice, allowing projects to claim a greater ITC rate and ultimately a higher tax credit.

Navigating the nuances of solar risk management was the focus of a workshop, “Solar Risk Management: What Is It and Why It Matters to Investors, Sponsors & Asset Managers,” at the recent Solar Asset Management North America (SAMNA) conference in San Francisco.

As the installed capacity of solar grows by gigawatts every month, so too has the importance of asset management and operations and maintenance (O&M) services. With the addition of energy storage to the equation, the global services sector faces even more challenges—and opportunities—to optimize power plant performance for asset owners while reducing their costs.

In addressing PV plant repowering for the upcoming 2018 Solar Asset Management Conference, we will discuss PV repowering in two sessions. The panels will be look beyond simply refurbishing, repairing, restoring or renovating the power plant. The focus is on delivering improved lifecycle performance, cost and risk reduction while extending a profitable plant’s economic life.

I hate to break it to you, but your data is dumb. In the renewable energy industry, we collect a ton of data, but most of it is without context. This not only leaves our insights into projects pretty rudimentary but also limits our ability to optimize our asset management processes. This makes you less efficient than you could be.

The recent leaps and bounds in artificial intelligence technology and machine learning have ushered a new era driven by automation. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is defined as a branch in computer science emphasising the creation of intelligent machines and computers similar to human beings in terms of behaviour and response capabilities.

Sports, due to their ability to reach enormous number of fans worldwide, have long been platforms for value promotion. One of such values have been the concept of sustainability and energy efficiency that have become the subject of increased focus lately. We've compiled an overview of the 50 biggest solar systems connected to stadiums and sports venues worldwide.

Last week of March marked the 4th annual Solar Asset Management conference organized by Solarplaza and held at the Grand Hyatt in San Francisco. Many of the most active asset owners, project developers, EPCs, developers, and monitoring and data analytic companies attended.

If players like NextEra, Southern Power, NRG, and now Brookfield continue to dominate the ownership landscape, they could keep a large share of the AM and O&M market captive, i.e. performed in-house and inaccessible to service providers.

On 16th February 2017, Solarplaza organized the webinar “Potential Induced Degradation (PID): Mechanisms, Recognition and Mitigation”. Jenya Meydbray, Vice President of strategy and business development at DNV GL, and Adrián Ramos, Senior Business Developer at OMRON joined the webinar as speakers and shared their expertise in mitigating the threat of potential induced degradation. The entire video recording of the webinar and the speakers’ slides can be freely accessed here.

On 24th January 2017, Solarplaza organized the webinar “Facing the Challenges of a Booming Solar Portfolio”. Chris Franz, Vice President of asset management at Cypress Creek, and Edmee Kelsey, CEO of 3megawatt joined the webinar as speakers and shared their expertise in dealing with the challenges of maintaining a growing solar asset portfolio.

In preparation of the fourth edition of Solar Asset Management North America we spoke to Chad Sachs, CEO of RadianGen, a leading asset management service provider and software developer in the North American market, and one of the companies profiling themselves as sponsor of the event.

The U.S. market experienced its busiest year in 2016, largely driven by a spectacular amount of construction in the utility segment. Per GTM Research, when the dust settles and all the numbers are in, the cumulative capacity of utility PV operating in the U.S. will have increased by more than 70% in a single year. But who owns these assets?

We're glad to be able to share with you the GTM Research data-overview of the 25 largest US utility-scale solar PV plant portfolios. We've published the top 5 here, along with some insightful observations by GTM's Colin Smith. The full top 25 is freely available upon completing the short form at the bottom of the article.

Consolidation is a recurring theme in many solar markets as they mature, but how fragmented or concentrated are each of these markets? How does the U.S. compare to Germany, Italy, or the U.K.? The latest edition of GTM Research’s annual report, Megawatt-Scale PV O&M and Asset Management 2016-2021, authored by yours truly, provides answers to this question for utility-scale plants. The chart below represents the share of the top 10 owners, asset managers, and O&M providers in 9 of the largest PV markets, as a percentage of the total installed base of PV plants 1 MWdc and above (at the end of Q3 2016).

More and more PV plants across the world are being installed on water. These so called ‘floating solar systems’ (or ‘floatovoltaics’) are an appropriate solution to situations where roof and/or ground space is limited. But just how big is this niche? Where are these floating plants located and what is their size? Solarplaza delved into these questions and came up with a Top 70 Floating PV Plants, as well as several interesting facts you probably want to know.

Our Solar Asset Management conference series is established as the leading event on the topic across 4 continents. With a track record of 10 events organized, and another 4 lined up for next year, we felt it was time to give the event series a face and feel of its own.

In an interview with Solarplaza, Atul Jain – Diaspark Energy’s product manager said they are showcasing their software with performance enhancements across its Asset Management, O&M and Analytics Platform.

Diaspark is again a proud exhibition sponsor of the 3rd edition of Solar Asset Management Conference 2016 San Francisco, CA for the second year in a row. Keeping its promise from last year, Diaspark is set to launch version 3.0 of its PV Enterprise Software, with performance enhancements across its Asset Management, O&M and Analytics platform for the Renewable Energy industry.

Did your plant underperform expectations last year? If so, you may currently be under pressure to evaluate and fix any of a mirade of possible equipment or operational issues. While it’s likely some instances of low production are due to equipment, others may simply be caused by a lack of solar resource due to cloudy weather. If your project came online last year in the U.S., it is much more likely that the low output was caused by the latter.